Frost

21

Maybe this was an over exaggeration, but Natsu had never ran this fast in his life before. As soon as he agreed to get Porlyusica, he took off. Even the blue exceed, who was using Max Speed, was having trouble keeping up. To Natsu, Gray's life was at risk. He couldn't walk, and hearing Eric tell him that made his heart ache. Natsu promised to get him back, and he would do whatever he took. Porlyusica was the best help right now.

Happy panted behind him as he tried to keep up. Natsu's feet pounded into the ground as he sped up. Finally after what felt like years, the tree was coming into view. Natsu skidded to a stop a few feet away, and the exceed sighed with relief and landed gently on the ground. He crawled to his partner's feet as the other knocked on the door, closing his eyes before falling into slumber. Porlyusica opened the door and groaned. "I should've known it was-"

"It's Gray! We found him but he can't walk!" Porlyusica lost her breath for a slight second before stepping aside to let Natsu inside for the third time. She began to pace around the room with her hand rubbing against her chin. The old woman mumbled to herself, and Natsu watched with wide eyes. Was this a bad thing?

"What's wrong?" Natsu asked. His voice was soft and quiet. His whole world was shrinking. The dragon slayer knew that this was, no doubt, a bad sign.

"If Gray can't walk then that either means his true form is waking up or he's disappearing," Porlyusica explained. Natsu blinked.

"True . . . form?"

"His body is awakening. He might have used up enough magic power to make his actual body uncomfortable." Porlyusica went to get the black box that stored the needle. Natsu watched her, an eyebrow raised high. As much as he was confused, he's never been more curious about the state. Was this actually a good thing?

"I've mistakened the enchantment as an invisibility enchantment. It just seemed too easy to find a cure for it. But Gray is not invisible, he is a ghost."

Natsu's mind was blown. There is no way Gray was dead. He could move things, and Eric could communicate with him. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. How people got cold when they got near him, and how no one but Eric could hear him talk or move. Had Porlyusica actually made a mistake in her research?

"B-but what about the bug?"

"It's too small. I had to test it on a mouse to see if it would work. Within the same time span as the bug, it looked as if the mouse was dead. However, its body was kept in a box, and I left small chunks off cheese that so happened to spread throughout the box."

Natsu blinked as Porlyusica pointed to a cardboard box that was hidden underneath a cabinet. He cringed as he heard it move a little. Something was definitely in there.

"Uh, okay. But how do we find his body?"

The woman smirked a little before sitting down in a nearby chair. "Here is where things get complicated. It would have been easy to find his sleeping body, but I've noticed while the mouse was sleeping that it began to sleepwalk before it officially collapsed. I think the castor made your friend go to a specific spot during that state. It's set to where his ghost form awoke where he fell asleep at."

At this point, Natsu was confused. First, Gray was invisible. Now he's a ghost and his body is somewhere hidden? How are they going to get him back to his true form?

"Can you explain to me how we get him back to himself? I'm getting really tired of him being invisible." Natsu hissed. He folded his arms and bit the inside of his cheek. Porlyusica nodded slowly before laughing.

"There's no need to get all defensive, child. I believe that once you find his body, he either has to find a way back in, or you put his body in the exact position he fell asleep in. Though, I'm not so sure."

Natsu looked at the old woman. He nodded and smiled. "Thanks Porlyusica." Said woman hummed and made her way over to the door.

Natsu walked out. He picked up Happy, who was still asleep on the walkway. The exceed snored peacefully in his arms as he made his way back to Gray's apartment. Now, they had a problem on their hands.

Gray wasn't invisible. It wasn't his physical body that was roaming around town, or his apartment, or wherever he went when they weren't focused on him. But the fact that they had to find his actual body . . .

Now that was troublesome.

Natsu didn't know where to start. There was no way anybody would know where Gray could have walked to, including the ice mage himself. But it was a good think, right? He was awakening. Or he could be disappearing. It was a fifty-fifty shot.

Happy began to roll around in Natsu's arms. The dragon slayer felt bad for running down his companion's energy. He was just so scared. Gray couldn't walk, and it frightened him. It made Natsu think that something was happening. And something definitely was.

Gray's apartment came to view for the second time that day. Everyone in the group was gathered around. Eric was communicating with Gray while Levy and Lucy were talking to Jellal and Erza. When Lucy saw her friend, she waved him over. When Natsu reached them, he smiled.

"I've got good news and bad news," Natsu said. He looked down at Happy, who was snoring peacefully in his arms. Lucy took the exceed from him. "Tell us the bad news first," Erza said. A few of the others agreed. Natsu looked at Eric, who was having a quiet conversation.

"Okay. There is a possibility that Gray can't walk because he's disappearing."

"No, he's not disappearing," Levy said. The dragon slayer looked her, and she smiled at him. She began to mess with her headband. "Lucy and I found that he was actually awakening. If he couldn't feel his legs, then it was positive. It would have turned out that way if he could feel them . . ."

Levy went on and on about her and Lucy's findings, and eventually Jellal and Erza chipped into the conversation. Natsu, however, zoned out. So Gray was going to be okay after all. That made Natsu feel good.

But they just needed to find his true form.